Success story of Local Tunnel Solar Drier for small scale
Entrepreneurship in Rural India
Dheeraj Singh1, M L Meena2, M Chaudhary3, H Dayal4 and A Dudi5
KVK, Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Pali, Rajasthan, India
dheerajthakurala@yahoo.com
Abstract
The paper presents the innovation of Shri Madan Lal Deora, a progressive farmer of Pali,
district of Rajasthan in India who had established himself as a successful entrepreneur
using self made tunnel solar drier. The solar tunnel dryer is a poly house framed structure
with UV-stabilized polythene sheet, where products on large scale could be dried under
controlled environment. The enterprise consists of different aonla products including
juice, squash, candy, powder, pickle, dry aonla, churan tablets, preserve and ladoos.
Aonla pulp from moisture content of 80.95 % to safe moisture content 9.0 % can be
successfully dried in 2 days at the prevailing conditions in the drier. The enterprise
manufactures two types of dry aonla, one is direct drying of green aonla which is used in
a number of ayurvedic medicines and traditional drugs and another is the aonla dried after
blanching which is used in as eating supplement of betel nut and as a mouth freshener.
The farmer produces four types of preserve namely chutney preserve produced by making
flakes of fruit ,preserve from big size fruits from improved cultivars, preserve from small
size fruits from local cultivars and preserve aonla from which seeds had been removed.
All the products are purely organic have high demand in the local and regional market.
Introduction
The new millennium brought into sharp focus the challenges expected of following a
model of economic development based on excessive consumption of energy derived from
fossil fuels. At the same time there was a threat from global warming, rising sea levels
and climate change due to increasing atmospheric pollution caused by the Green House
gases emission from economic activities based on fossil fuels. All these have only
strengthened the view, which has gained wide currency in recent years that the process of
economic development can not be sustained for long by relying on this model. Thus, there
is an increasing realisation that the switchover to renewable sources to meet the growing
energy needs of a burgeoning population can not be delayed any further. Clean and green
power for sustainable development has become the motto. Fortunately India is blessed
with abundant solar energy potential that can be used for different applications. In most of
villages of rural India electricity supply is hardly 3-4 hours per day and as the cost of
petro products is too high, hence there is need for exploration of renewable energy
sources for environmental protection and sustainable development. The paper presents the
innovation of a farmer of Pali district of Rajasthan in India who had made a local tunnel
solar drier using his own knowledge using hit and trail method and he is now a successful
entrepreneur having a local solar processing unit at his village Nimaz in Pali district of
Rajasthan. In the month of December, solar radiation increases from 2.6 kWhm-2day-1 to
4.5 kWhm-2day-1 at Pali whereas during summer season i.e. March to May; this value
ranges from 5.0 to 7.4 kWhm-2day-1. Pali receives 6.0 kWhm-2day-1 global solar radiation
1
Training Organizer, Krishi Vigyan Kendra ,CAZRI, Pail (Raj)
SMS(Agricultural Extension), Krishi Vigyan Kendra ,CAZRI, Pail (Raj)
3
SMS(Agronomy), Krishi Vigyan Kendra ,CAZRI, Pail (Raj)
4
SMS(Horticulture), Krishi Vigyan Kendra ,CAZRI, Pail (Raj)
5
SMS(Home Science), Krishi Vigyan Kendra ,CAZRI, Pail (Raj)
2
and 1.981 KWhm-2day-1 diffuse solar radiation on horizontal surface while 6.272 kWhmday-1 direct solar radiation at normal incidence. The average daily duration of bright
sunshine is 8- 9 hours.
In many rural areas of Rajasthan, the farmers grow fruit and vegetables, which
have to be sold in the market immediately after harvesting. When the production is high,
the farmers have to sell the material at very low price, there by incurring great loss. This
loss can be minimised by dehydrating fruits and vegetables. The dried products can be
stored for longer time in less volume. A successful enterprise can be run based on this
principle which can easily utilize the surplus produce facing the seasonal glut. In off
seasons the farmer can sell the dried products at higher price. The traditional methods for
drying the agricultural produce are to dehydrate the material under direct sunshine. This
method of drying is a slow process and usual problems like dust contamination, insect
infestation and spoilage due to unexpected rain. These problems can be solved by using
either oil-fired or gas fired or electrically operated dryers. However, in many rural
locations in India, the electricity is either not available or too expensive for drying
purpose. Thus in such areas the drying systems based on the electrical heating are
inappropriate. Alternatively, fossil powered dryer can be used but it poses such financial
barriers due to large initial and running cost that these are beyond the reach of small and
marginal farmers. In the present energy crisis, it is desirable to apply a little solar
technology for dehydration of fruits and vegetables, so that gas, oil and electricity can be
saved. Keeping the above facts in mind this innovation of local drier can prove to be of
much help to farmer of most of developing nations where sunshine is abundant. Moreover
the products are easy to sell as the products are having high demand in local market also.
2
Local Tunnel Solar Dryer
A semi circular shaped solar tunnel dryer having a floor area of 5m × 3.75m is designed
for drying different processed products(Fig:1). The solar tunnel dryer is a poly house
framed structure with UV-stabilized polythene sheet having height 2.25 meter, where
products on large scale could be dried under controlled environment and which is large
enough to permit a person to enter into it and carry out operations such as to load and
unload the material to be dried. The orientation of tunnel solar dryer is in east-west
direction and ultra violet stabilized polycarbonate / polythene sheet of 200-micron size is
used as a cover material .
Fig 1: Locally made solar tunnel drier
The structural components of LTSD include hoops, foundation, floor, UV stabilized
polythene film and drying trays. The LTSD consists of three inlets having radius of 15 cm
each oriented in south west direction for entry of fresh air and three outlets at the top of
the structure for the easy escape of hot air along with water vapour(Fig:2). The maximum
temperature inside the domestic solar dryer reaches 440C at 14 h while the minimum
temperature inside the solar tunnel dryer was 200C at 9 h on a typical day in winter
season. While maximum and minimum ambient temperature were 260C and 110C
respectively on that day. Cost wise the unit reaches Rs.25, 000/- per system respectively.
Aonla pulp from moisture content of 80.95 % to safe moisture content 9.0 % can be
successfully dried in 2 days at the prevailing conditions. The farmer is having about 1
hectares of land which is entirely covered with the plantation of aonla fruit plants planted
at spacing of 6 X 6 M .The space left in between the plants is utilized for growing crops
like wheat, mustard and vegetables like tomato, chillies, onion, garlic, methi, egg plant,
okra etc, which supplies the requirement of his family besides giving handsome income
from the nearby market. The main enterprise of the farmer is the processing unit of aonla
which is well known for its organic and hygienic products. As the farmer is having his
own orchard , raw material is no problem .His farm is well maintained having some 20
desi plants of aonla which give fruits which are small in size but they are much in demand
due to their medicinal properties. Rest of the plantation is of a very good variety NA-7,
which is evolved from Achrya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology,
Faizabad, Utter Pradesh .This variety is excellent in taste, right green in colour with high
juice and pulp content and minimum fibres.The different products manufactured by the
farmer include juice, squash, candy, powder, pickle, dry aonla, churn tablets and preserve.
He manufactures two types of dry aonla one is direct drying of green aonla which is used
in a number of ayurvedic medicines and traditional drugs and another is the aonla dried
after blanching which is used in as eating supplement of betel nut and as a mouth
freshener. The farmer produces four types of preserve namely chutney preserve produced
by making flakes of fruit ,preserve from big size fruits from improved cultivars, preserve
from small size fruits from local cultivars and preserve aonla from which seeds had been
removed. One product that is known to all and very much in demand is the Aonla
Ladoo/Burfis. They are made by washing and grating of fresh aonla. This aonla is then
roasted in pure butter oil and after cooling mixed with sugar and dry fruits. The product is
then kept in solar drier for a day and then converted to either ladoos or burfis. Drying
dehydrating vegetables viz. mint, spinach, okra, tomato, ginger, red and green chillies,
carrot, coriander leaves, fenugreek, peas, cabbage, onion, sweet potato, bitter gourd,
radish, sugar beet, cauliflower, bathua and fruits, viz. ber, sapodilla, grapes, pomegranate,
etc. were also very successfully in the drier. The leafy vegetables can be dehydrated
within one day at the loading rate of 4 to 5 kg/m2, whereas other vegetables can be dried
within 2 days at loading rate of 8 to 10 kg/m2. The green colour of solar dried products
remained as such even after drying. The spinach powder can be used for making ‘Palak
paneer’ a special local dish. The coriander and tomato powder can be mixed with
ingredients to prepare instant soup/sauce/chutney by adding water. The solar dried grated
carrot can be used for preparing pudding ‘Gajar ka Halwa’. Thus the local tunnel solar
drier is economically and environmentally profitable and need to be popularized in rural
areas of India. This case study is in accordance with the findings of Lin (1997), who
concluded that development of cottage and food processing enterprises industries is the
need of developing nations in rural areas like India and Taiwan.
Fig 2 :Drying conditions under the tunnel drier
Advantages of solar dryers
(i).
Solar dryer can save fuel and electricity and drying time in solar dryer is reduced
in comparison to open drying method.
(ii).
Fruits and vegetables dried in solar dryer are better in quality and hygienic than
dried in open.
(iii).
Materials required for fabrication of solar dryer are locally available and the use
of solar dryer involves no fire risks.
(iv).
The dryers can be connected in series and hence its capacity can be enhanced as
per requirement and it can be dismantled easily so that its transportation is easy
from one place to another.
Social and economic impacts of entrepreneurship
Mr Madan Lal had become a successful entrepreneur and now he is motivating other
farmers also to adopt his path. The enterprise is having a selling counter at the farmers
home itself where the local people come and take various products. As this is a small
enterprise which does not have any branch, the outside parties also come in the village
and take the processed product however. For the outside market the orders are placed in
advance and the delivery is taken by the party itself. The farmer is earning 50,000 -80,000
profits a year besides providing employment to many needy persons. He had shown that
by connecting agriculture with entrepreneurship one can easily sustain his living along
with good savings. The positive results for social and economic aspects are also in close
conformity with the study of Veerbhadrai et al., (2003) who reported that
entrepreneurship development programmes bring prosperity and raise the income of
farmers in rural areas. Today madan lal employs 50 labours in his peak season for his
aonla enterprise giving employment and social assistance to poor and weaker sections of
the society. He had adopted a unique scheme for employment of workers at his enterprise
that is he takes not more than one worker from each family so that every family has one
earning hand; secondly he employs persons for one month only so that all the needy
persons from his village may get chance to feed their families. Madan lal is inspiring his
own as well as nearby farmers to adopt entrepreneurship programme for their subsistence
and livelihood. a surprisingly impact of the enterprise is he had won many awards and is a
well known personality in social sector. As Mr Degra is adopting organic farming and
processing, some of his products go to Delhi and far markets also.
Fig 3: Processed products from solar drier
Table 1. Economies of Aonla dried in Farm Solar Dryer
Initial investment
Purchase price of Aonla
Quantity loaded in one batch
Total purchase price
Other investment before drying
Weight of dried product in one batch
Drying time of one batch
Earning /batch due to drying of Aonla in the farm solar dryer
Saving per batch
Earning/drying day due to drying of Aonla in the farm solar
dryer
Rs 25000 /5 Rs /Kg
25 Kg
Rs.125/Rs. 25/2.5 Kg
2 days
525 Rs/batch
Rs 400/200 Rs/
drying day
Table 2. Economies of Aonla Candy dried in Farm Solar Dryer
Initial investment
Purchase price of Aonla
Quantity loaded in one batch
Total purchase price
Other investment before drying(sugar, pectin ,spices etc)
Labour, water, electricity(per batch)
Rs 25000 /5 Rs /Kg
20 Kg
Rs.100/Rs. 250/Rs 160/
Drying time of one batch
Selling Price(Rs) per Kg
Total expenditure(Rs)
Earning /batch
2 day
120
510
1200
Rs/batch
Table 3. Economies of Aonla ladoos/Burfi dried in Farm Solar Dryer
Initial investment
Purchase price of Aonla
Quantity loaded in one batch
Total purchase price
Other investment before drying(sugar, butter oil, dry fruits etc)
Labour, water, electricity(per batch)
Drying time of one batch
Selling Price(Rs) per Kg
Total expenditure(Rs)
Earning /batch
Rs 25000 /5 Rs /Kg
20 Kg
Rs.100/Rs. 1000/Rs 140/
1 day
100
1240/
860 Rs/batch
Constraints
Though Mr Madan lal is a successful entrepreneur but still he is facing certain problems
which may be concluded as under:
The seasonal nature of the enterprise
Lack of marketing facilities
Lack of trained manpower
Delay of payment and mostly the mode of payment is on credit basis
Lack of motivation and proper support from the government.
Conclusion
The study concluded for a successful entrepreneur although professional training is
important but it is the personal interest and effort of the individual which makes the
difference. The findings of the present case study concluded that farmer’s interest is the
main criteria for a successful agro-enterprise. Entrepreneurship is also very important for
Indian farmers as they are having small land holdings and a combination of agriculture
along with small scale agriculture based entrepreneurship is the key to sustainable
livelihood.